The ant fauna of the Pilbara Bioregion, Western Australia

Access Status

Authors

Date

Type

Metadata

Abstract

The ant fauna of the Pilbara Bioregion, which covers an area of ca. 179,000 km2, is reviewed. During surveys undertaken between May 2003 and September 2006, ants were one of the taxonomic groups to receive special attention. The total number of ant species recorded from 24 survey areas was 245, and these were placed in 37 genera and 9 subfamilies. Ants recorded from single quadrats (‘singletons’) accounted for 18.8% of the species. The most speciose genera were Camponotus (36 spp.), Iridomyrmex (31 spp.) and Melophorus (30 spp.). Based on current knowledge, 43% are purely Eremaean, 8% are primarily Bassian, 6% are primarily Torresian, nearly 17% occur over two of Australia’s three biogeographic divisions, and 25% are widespread over all three. At a quadrat level, there was no significant correlation between richness and any environmental variable, while clustering analysis revealed weak environmental correlations with ant assemblage composition. The classification at survey area level identified six groupings of ants; three climatic variables associated with these groupings were identified, namely annual temperature, precipitation in the coldest quarter of the year and annual precipitation.

Citation

Heterick, B.E. and Durrant, B. and Gunawardene, N.R. 2010. The ant fauna of the Pilbara Bioregion, Western Australia, in George, A.S, and McKenzie, N.L. and Doughty, P. (ed), A biodiversity of survey of the Pilbara Region of Western Australia, 2002-2007. Records of the Western Australian Museum. Supplement No. 78 (Part A): pp. 157-167.

Related items

Numerous popular business publications and academic literature have highlighted that the Chinese cultural phenomenon of guanxi has made noticeable impacts on the economic efficiency in China’s economic transition. Despite ...

Background and research questions. The characterization of chronic persistent asthma in an older adult population is not well defined. This is due to the difficulties in separating the diagnosis of asthma from that of ...

The long-term regular use of tobacco and hazardous alcohol use are responsible for significant mortality and morbidity as well as social and economic harm in Australia each year. There is necessary the more cost-efficient ...